Dust Bunnies Galore

In a foolish endeavour to prepare for the impending New Year, and as part of a time honoured procrastination strategy, I have been attempting to restore some order to my room. I have only just surfaced from the piles of junk that were released from my cupboards.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day means one thing - Cricket test match at the MCG. Australia vs Pakistan. At stumps, Pakistan were 6-318. If the Pakistanis keep their fight, this match might come closer to the full 5 days than the previous test match, which Australia wrapped up in about half that time.
See SMH for a full report of the day's play.

Happy Christmas

Well another Christmas has been and gone, and despite the best of intensions, I ate an elephant's sufficiency. Mum is a bit of a food pusher. I think her rationale is that if she fattens everyone else up, then she will be slimmer by comparison.
Christmas 2004 was marked by the lack of Christmas tree and decorations; harrowing family photo sessions; and Jason's admission to the family folk that he has a girlfriend.

Pudding Preparations

Mum's first attempt at a boiled Christmas pudding.

Catching up

Catching up with a small fraction of everyone's year mich me deb dom

Newton's Laws of Graduation

1. First Law: A grad student in procastination tends to stay in procastination unless an external force is applied to it.
2. Second Law: The age, a, of a doctoral process is directly proportional to the flexibility, f, given by the advisor and inversely proportional to the student’s motivation m.
3. Third Law: For every action towards graduation there is an equal and opposite distraction.

From PhD Comics

ICA Christmas Party

Tonight was Innovation Capital's christmas party. It always makes for a charged room when you mix investors,inventors and VCs. Although I was bilssfully unaware at the time, I was reliably informed that the floor was littered with the corpses of those being stabbed in the back. An interesting evening by all accounts.
On the plus side, I got to catch up with Jane who kept me sane last year while we were putting together our business plan.

Family - It's a Beautiful Thing

There are others genetically doomed with the same peculiarities as you. Mum's brothers and their wifes were over for dinner tonight, and after a number of glasses of wine my aunt started detailing one of my uncle's more unusual quirks. This sounded rather familiar to me, and I directed an accusatory finger and glare in Mum's direction. My other aunt completed the trifecta - "Tony too". Hilarious after a little wine. Hopefully for me, Ben and Jason are quirk free.

Dad's Birthday

Today is Dad's birthday. He's 21 again, but apparently it's OK because he's turned 21 more times than I have. That's one of Mum's famous chocolate-mint mud cakes.

Dad Retires

Dad's colleagues took him out to lunch today to celebrate his retirement from the ACCC. One of the conditions on his retirement is that he cleans out his office. Given Dad's meticulous filing system, that can only be described as chronological, this retirement party may have been premature.

Graduation Day

Its a big day for the Kepert group. Xina graduated, Greg submitted a JACS paper and Suzanne handed in a large volume commonly referred to as a PhD thesis. I wish I could download my brain onto paper and hand in now too. Anyway, any momentous event needs to be celebrated, preferably with Kuletos happy hour cocktails.

Sulfur Crested Cockatoo

This sulfur crested cockatoo was kind enough to sit still and pose, while I snuck close enough to get a reasonable photo with my 3x zoom camera. That translates to ~1m.

Neutrons @ Work

Today was the 4th AINSE Symposium on Neutron Scattering held at ANSTO, Lucas Heights where they are building the replacement research (nuclear) reactor. There were a couple of dull talks including a particularly poor one by some chick on Negative Thermal something boring. I almost dozed off.

Sandra & Stephen in Oz

You'd almost think I was back in Chicago, running into Sandra, Stephen and Bernt. But no, I'm in Canberra for a symposium at ANU where Sandra and Stephen are the guests of honour. Yesterday evening Po Po and I took them up the top of Mt Ainslie to look over the sights of Canberra.

Johanna say's Hi

Hello this is Johanna. I'm Karena's cousin. I live in Canberra. I am 8 years old I have a older sister and a younger brother. Today Karena came to visit and I had lunch with her. Karena is my second oldest cousin. I have been to lots of places with her like Selywn snow fields. My sister's name is Vanessa. She is 12 years old and my brother Jonathan and he is nearly 5. I also forgot to meantion that my birthiday is 10 days before my brothers so I am nearly 9. My mum and dad both come from Malaysia.

Karena, Johanna & Vanessa

CJK Group BBQ

Yesterday evening was the Kepert group BBQ at Cameron's place. We were all huddled under tarps for the first rain in Sydney since I left 3 months ago. Typical.
A regular feature of CJK BBQs is the highly competitive, post-dessert game of Pictionary complete with critique of artistic talent and compulsary distraction of opposing teams.

37 Hours in Transit

Mmmm.... jet lag.

Qantas Club in LA

I'm about half way through my 37 hour journey home which included a 7 hour tour of New York's JFK airport. Now I've made it to LA and the Qantas club lounge. Any second now they are going to buzz me to let me know a shower is free. Of course they've disabled telnet facilities so I can't check email. I suppose that just leaves blogging.

Beware! Live grasshoppers.

Here are some experimental samples with a difference. I think they are destined for phase contrast imaging, which the clever folks at Sector 1 are using to make movies of bugs breathing etc. On a nearby bench was a large cardboard with the following caution on the lid: "Beware! Live grasshoppers. Do not open"

Farewell Luncheon

It's my last day here is Chicago so the folks at Sector 1 took me out to lunch at Emmett's (guess who chose the venue). Our waitress was not the most competent photographer but this is my best opportunity to introduce the cast of characters. From left to right we have: Brian, who is not really from Sector 1 so he only half made it to the photo; Jon Almer, who recently completed the Chicago marathon in some phenomenal time; Marcus, a PhD candidate with a Texan drawl; Kamel Fezzaa; Sarvjit Shastri, an optics maestro; Ulrich Lienert, a source of local swimming and cycling information; Jan Ilavsky, the 1-BM guy; Karena, departing ASRP intern; Dean Haeffner, the boss of Sector 1; and Bob Von Dreele, Mr GSAS.

Sector 1 Pub Meeting

Science types are the same the world over - always gravitating towards the nearest pub. The first Monday of the month is the Sector 1 pub night at the local, the "Kerry Piper", a nice little Irish pub. It was appropriately decorated for the holiday season complete with dancing santa.

Emmett's Ale House

If you are ever in the vicinity of the APS, and looking for a refreshing beverage, head out to Emmett's ale house in Downers Grove. They brew on site with selected imported beers on tap. I recommend their Victory Pale Ale - it's multi-award winning so it must be good.

APS News

While killing time at the beamline I found this puff piece from the Consul General's visit. Exciting stuff. There's even photographic evidence of me looking respectable in a suit.

Late Night at the Beamline

The (one) nice thing about working at the beamline through the night is the stunning sunrise that greets you as you stumble back to your room for a few hours rest.

Sad Farewells

Our time here in Chicago is nearly over. Bernt is flying home tomorrow and I'm off next Wednesday.

New ipod for me

As of ~12.30pm I am the proud owner of a brand new 40Gb Apple ipod. I ordered it online at www.ecost.com, and after a couple of weeks and demands of proof of id and credit card statements, they finally decided to send it to me. Mmmm... new toy.

Scientific Publishing Tricks

Apparently, physics is an extremely cut-throat field where toes are constantly being stamped on and so special precautions are required. When the breakthrough work on the YBaCuO superconductors was being prepared for publication and sent out to confidential review, the authors referred to the compound as YbBaCuO not YBaCuO. All of a sudden people started to try duplicating experiments on YbBaCuO, with no success - surprise, surprise. Then, once the final proofs were sent for approval, they said "Oops. Typo." Devious.

Electron Gun

This afternoon was the final opportunity for me to be won over to a highly lucrative career in accelerator physics and ditch the chemistry nonsense. I was watching Matt and Mathias experiments with the electron gun, which can shoot out the electrons required for generating synchrotron radiation. I think I was most excited by the special blue booties we had to wear - I suppose that means that I'm not cut out for accelerator physics.

Mickey

Meet Mickey, my new best friend.

The Goose Island Brewhouse

There is nothing more Chicagoan than a locally brewed Goose Island ale. The Goose Island brewhouse was a perfect venue to sample the product, complete with goose head tap handles dressed in mini santa hats.

Monkey Socks

The day after Thanksgiving is a crazy shopping day in the USA. In keeping with my goal of experiencing an authentic American holiday I was forced to participate in a little retail activity.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have just experienced my first Thanksgiving (that actually I remember). Here's what came out of Sandra's kitchen: cream of artichoke soup; roast turkey with homemade gravy and cranberry sauce; stuffing; pumkin ravioli; asparagus spears with Hollondaise sauce; roasted sweet potatoes with bacon and chestnuts; baked ham; pumpkin pie; pecan pie; ... I think that's everything.
Bernt came over with his supervisor Mark Ridgway and a postdoc, Patrick, who are out for experiments. We also had 2 West Australians, Nigel and Karsten, who are also in the middle of beam time.

First Snow

We had the first snow fall of the season on the busiest travel day of the year, Thanksgiving eve. There were huge flakes falling and blanketing Argonne in ~5cm of the white stuff. Lots of postcard material. I love snow!

Silver Anniversary

Today is the 25th parental anniversary. Go Mum and Dad. Keep up the good work.

Happy B'day Ben

Its my little brother Ben's 20th birthday today - that means that in one year's time I'll be sharing any embarassing stories from his childhood with all his friends.
Happy Birthday Ben!
Your present is available at www.naxos.com (try my email/password)

Internet Telephone

I've just discovered a nice little program, Skype, that allows you to make free phone calls over the internet, including calls to the opposite side of the world - Australia for example. This afternoon I picked up a microphone/headset from the Microcenter and I can now be seen wandering around the ring talking to myself.
Sign up and give me a call.

Under Surveillance

The observation deck for the APS ring, which school groups regularly visit, is directly above Sector 1 where we are working. Wave kiddies.

APS Tricycles

The APS is just like a light globe, only a little bigger. It's more than 1 km circumference. Hence it's often more convenient to take one of the tricycles parked around the ring. They are also useful for killing time in between sample changes.

Before & After

Dave is our high pressure whiz from Stonybrook, Long Island. As the sole person with diamond anvel cell experience, he has the privilege of adjusting ALL the sample pressures - every 30-120 min for 6 days. Luck boy!

American Dining Experiences

Starbucks' gingerbread latte. All you can eat buffet.

Now all Starbucks needs to work on is their coffee flavoured latte.

Under Pressure

I've decided that high pressure diffraction experiments with diamond anvil cells (DACs) are very fiddly (which is apparently a word only used by the English and Aussies). Tiny diamonds, with tiny faces, holding a thin foil, with a smaller hole and 2 grains of sample in the hole. Fiddly.
We have 4 DACs in use. The are called Bass, Leffe, Stella and Emmett. Bass is named in honour of our beverage for the evening.

Dinner at Bobak's

Apparently dinner at Bobak's is a standard for any synchrotron experiment. Its Polish food just like Pete's (left) grandma used to make. Sytle and Mark are PhD students from John Parise's group at Stonybrook, Long Island.

Control Room

The average synchrotron user rarely considers the efforts required to deliver their beautiful stable x-ray beam - until it breaks. Yesterday evening we were able to witness first hand the birth of the synchrotron beam from behind the driver's seat in the main control room. Stephen (Milton) showed us the complex series of magnets and gizmos that take electrons from a cathode, like the one in a television, and accelerates them up to close to the speed of light.

Meeting the Consul-General

This morning the Australian Consul-General, David Glass, and Deputy Consul-General, Melissa Stenfors, came to visit our little gathering of Aussie scientists at the APS. Dave (Cookson) did a fantastic job of conveying synchrotron science to the non-scientists - the x-ray 'white' beam is a death-ray and we collect data with x-ray cameras. After the tour we all smiled on cue for the camera in front of some highly complex experimental equipment so hopefully I can add some pics of the occasion.

Blue Man Group

The Blue Man Group performance was an eclectic mixture of percussive music and performance theater - 5 stars.

Sigh...

"In a parallel universe near ours, everyone reads books, scientists are treated and paid as we do sport and rock stars and beer is not sold on thirty can value packs."
- above the bar at the Maple Tree Inn

Nano-Lego

Found this while trying not to write a research proposal.
And here is an old favourite in the same theme.

Russians Play Russians

Last night I went to the Chicago Symphony to see the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Matt who is also a classical music fan. They played the Prokofiev 'Classical' Symphony, the first Shostakovich Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Pathetique which premiered days before his lethal encounter with a glass of water (cholera infested). The orchestra hall was nice and intimate, but the acoustics could have been better at high altitudes where they seat students and other undesirables.
NB. To anyone who knows that I really should have been working on a research proposal instead of going to concerts - please disregard this post.

Beam alignment for Beginners

I'd better learn fast - they want me to be beamline support for the next Australian user in 2 weeks. Watch out Nigel!

Someone else published my PhD

Qantas Loyalty Pays Dividends

All my years as a loyal frequent flyer have finally paid off. This just landed in my email inbox.

"As a valued Qantas Frequent Flyer, I have great pleasure in inviting you and a guest to the Australian Chamber Orchestra's Baroque Master's tour, on Saturday 20 November 2004, at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place."

This is just my cup of tea, but of course I won't get home until mid-December - flying Qantas.

American Gothic

Iowa Matt at the Art Institute of Chicago

Cruisin' Chicago

This sunny Saturday, Mathias and I took the 90 min river tour run by the Chicago Architectural Foundation. Chicago is an architectural Mecca and the birthplace of the skyscraper, which evolved as the city was being rebuilt after being virtually destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. I now understand the finer points of contextualism, neoclassicalism and the art deco style.


We ended up in Millenium park where they have "The Bean", a reflective sculpture shaped like a red blood cell.